How Columbo's Cast Really Felt About Working With Steven Spielberg

Before Steven Spielberg was THE Steven Spielberg, he was a young 22-year-old TV director working under contract for Universal Studios. In the early 1970s, directing TV was not nearly as glamorous a job as directing for films, and Spielberg bounced around between various properties on the Universal lot as he tried to prove what he could do. Some of his early credits include directing an episode of Rod Sterling's follow-up to "The Twilight Zone" called "Night Gallery," a futuristic episode of "The Name of the Game," and two episodes of a procedural drama called "The Psychiatrist."

These work-for-hire jobs bear only a glimmer of the Spielberg we will come to know and love, but it was his next directing gig where he really came to shine: directing the first episode of the classic detective show "Columbo."

By the time Spielberg arrived on set to direct "Murder by the Book," the first episode of "Columbo" following its pilot, Peter Falk was already a veteran actor over 20 years his senior. Despite not being the network's first choice for the job (NBC executives tried to cast crooner Bing Crosby in the role), Falk owned the role as soon as he stepped on screen. So, how did Falk and the rest of the cast really feel about working with the young maestro hiding in their midst? One of the actors on set told all in an interview for the book "The Ultimate Columbo."

"Murder by the Book" tells the story of a writing duo who break up, and the less talented partner decides to kill his former partner in a fit of jealous rage. Rosemary Forsyth plays Joanna Ferris, the wife of the slain novelist, who turns to Lieutenant Frank Columbo for guidance, and in exchange helps Columbo to unravel the twisted story this murderous novelist has devised to cover his tracks.

Forsyth was interviewed by author Jim Benson for his book "The Ultimate Columbo", and she recounts the story of what it was like to be on set with the young Steven Spielberg. Despite being only three years older than Spielberg, the baby-faced director looked so young that her first thought when walking onto the set was:

"This is a child I'm working with."

Despite his looks, Forsyth found Spielberg to be a particularly adept filmmaker, confident enough to allow the older actors to bring their own spin on the material and nudging them in the right direction when needed. "Steven was, as I remember, not a person who tells Peter [Falk] or myself what to do with it," he said. "You know, he might have said one or two things, but basically, he just let us go, and if it wasn't right, then he would make it what he wanted it to be ... My memory is that all went just so smoothly."

Looking back on it now, Forsyth is pleased that the episode is considered a classic of not just the "Columbo" series, but the entire genre of TV detective shows, helping to set the template for what the entire genre would look like to this very day.

Despite being the star of "Columbo," Peter Falk had no ego about his role in the success of the series. He doesn't even think he's the reason the show is beloved, instead giving credit to the show's atypical "Howcatchem?" structure. And when looking back on how Steven Spielberg reshaped the direction of the episode, Falk was gobsmacked by his "exceptional" work that changed his perception of television forever:

"The show with Steven Spielberg was the first time in my acting career that I did a scene in which I was unaware where the camera was. In television, the camera is always right there. And we did a scene, and he said 'Action,' and we started to shoot, and in the middle of the scene I said, 'Where the hell is the camera?'"

At the time, TV direction was relatively bare bones, favoring simple setups and coverage of the actors. Spielberg started to change that by bringing a stronger sense of direction to "Columbo," and the results speak for themselves. "Columbo" has become a cultural institution, with Peter Falk's endearing portrayal of the rumpled detective standing the test of time, all thanks to the work of the young Steven Spielberg.